THE United States has congratulated Nigeria on the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections.
According to a statement signed by State Department spokesman Ned Price, the emergence of Bola Tinubu and other political leaders is a new period for the country’s democracy.
Tinubu was declared the winner Tuesday of the February 25 polls in Africa’s most populous democracy.
“The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders,” he said.
“This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy,” he added.
Price acknowledged the discontent among some Nigerians over the validity of the results, as at least one opposition figure has promised to dispute the outcome.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted,” he said.
“Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral process,” Price said, urging political leaders to register their concerns through established legal mechanisms.
“Nigerian officials had hoped new biometric voter identification technology would make the election the cleanest yet, but malfunctions, long delays and slow results have fueled the accusations of fraud.
“We call on all parties to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time,” Price said.
